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Part II: Open the Map with Adobe Illustrator
(See also Adobe Illustrator Keyboard Shortcuts )
NOTE: These instructions are tailored for the ENVS-321 (Cartography) class, but should be generally applicable for anyone going from ArcGIS to Adobe Illustrator...
1. Open Adobe Illustrator by double clicking on your .ai file (alternatively you can open Illustrator from the Start menu and then use File / Open to browse to your file)
2. Before the file opens you will be prompted to update the text (ArcMap uses an older version of the text from the current Illustrator)
- Choose Update
3. Once your file is updated and opens, save it using “Save As” – this will preserve your original exported file in case you should ever need it
- Save your file (using File / Save As) with a “_01” after the name (e.g., Presley_Lab4b_01.ai)
- Illustrator will add extra text to your file name “[converted]” – you can delete this text, and give it the name you choose
- You will get this following Options window. The default should already be set to the correct Illustrator version that you are working with. Verify that the “Create PDF Compatible File” and “Use Compression” boxes are checked, and click OK
- Recommended: With every major change and/or at the end of each work session, save a new copy of your file with a new version number (e.g. _Lab4b_02.ai, _Lab4b_03.ai). This will ensure that if you make a major mistake, you can return to a previous version if necessary
4. Once you have your .ai file open take a good look at it (optionally comparing it to a print or export of the same map from ArcMap). Verify that all of the features, text, etc. were properly imported. Be sure to check the legend, north arrow, scale bar, graticule, etc... If anything is missing, now is the best time to figure out why. If your text is missing, for example, it may be that you forgot to Update the text (see Step 2 above). If a layer is missing it may be because you didn't have a layer turned on in ArcMap. It is very easy at this point to return to ArcMap and redo your map/export to change a font or the symbology or the export options... One way or another, figure it out Now - otherwise you risk doing a lot of work to prepare an .ai file that isn't of much use to you....
Adobe Illustrator Layers
In the export process, ArcMap exports your .ai file as though it is ready for printing or web publication. Among other things, this means that any layer that used transparency would be rasterized into an image (which we did not want to have happen, which is why you don't want to use any transparency in ArcMap). The export process also Groups the different features of each GIS layer (the individual polygons or lines of a file) into Illustrator Layers or sub-layers. In addition, the portion of the data just beyond the data frame is actually included in the export process but masked out (made not visible) via a 'Clipping Path' layer that is created and included in each group. All this Grouping and Clipping is fine if we like the map just the way it is. However, in order to do much editing of the features they have to be Un-Grouped, etc. first.
1. If your Layers panel is not already visible, go to the Window menu and choose Layers (or F7)
- The Layers panel in Illustrator is similar to the Table of Contents in ArcMap
- The Layers panel should include all of your data as well as the annotation and the map elements (neatline, north arrow, scale bar) as separate Layers (Note that you can make the Layers Panel both wider and taller in order to see more of the contents)
- The Layers are named (for the most part) the same as the layers (and/or Annotation Groups) were named in your Table of Contents in ArcMap
- Note: you can double click on any layer to change the name as desired
- Recommended: Rename the layers or sub-layers to give them more descriptive names as needed
- You can turn layers On/Off (toggle the visibility) by clicking the eyeball icon to the left of a layer’s name
- Beside the eyeball icon is a check box that toggles the ability to edit the layer – when checked a padlock icon appears and the layer cannot be edited (by default the layers are editable and the icon is blank)
- The triangle just to the left of a layer name can be used to expand or contract the contents of the layer
- As you expand a layer you will often see sub-layers that can be individually turned on or off or locked/unlocked
- Note that most of your layers, when expanded, will consist of a <Group> layer, which can also be expanded to show the contents of the group layer
- Some of the layers will have multiple sub-layers, each with additional sub-layers…
- Some of the layers will have a lot of sub-layers, as each individual feature from the GIS data ends up in it's own layer...
- Each individual feature from the original GIS data is shown as an individual sub-layer within a Group, which means there can be a lot of sub-layers in some of the groups
- Your map annotation should be stored in individual layer(s) (which also are made up of a Group layer which includes each individual text string as a separate layer)
- Manually placed annotation will be in a separate “<Default>” layer or one of the "Other" layers
- The neatline for the data frame will probably be in its own layer titled Other #
- The map elements (page neatline, title, legend) will be stored in one or more of the Other # layers, typically at the very top and/or very bottom of the Layer list
- Note that most Group layers include a <Clip Group> and a <Clipping Path> layer as the first layer in the group
- A Clipping Path is a layer that essentially masks out the edges (a virtual clipping) of the data so that you only see the part you want to be visible.
NOTE: Again, Before you do any editing or preparation work in Adobe Illustrator look through the different layers in your .ai file. Be sure you can find everything you need (all of the data layers, any text, your title, legend, the locator map if you have them, etc.). Be sure that you are positive that everything exported over and is available and that you can locate and turn each component piece on and off. DO NOT begin working on your .ai file until you are sure you have all of your data. Otherwise, later on if you discover that something is missing and you have to go back to get whatever wasn't exported you’ll have to begin all over again…